An anticlimactic end for Stinky’s big bloom at the Huntington

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The build-up was impressive, but the actual event felt as if it was over in a flash.

As you have no doubt heard by now, the Huntington‘s corpse flower bloomed on Wednesday in an event that people have been talking, texting and tweeting about for weeks in giddy anticipation. The museum has been tracking the growth of the plant -- which is famous for emitting a powerful stench as it reaches prime pollination hour -- and posting updates on its website around the clock.

When the big event finally happened Wednesday afternoon, it was as if Chace Crawford had emerged from a limo to wave to fans. Visitors snapped photographs, and the museum trumpeted the event via Twitter. But no sooner had the unpredictable Stinky bloomed than it began to wilt less than two days later. The Huntington tweeted the plant’s inevitable decay from hothouse star to a quickly shriveling husk of its former self. The short pollination period is evidently common in the Titan arum species, an evolutionary equivalent of playing hard-to-get that makes admirers all the more covetous of the plant’s fleeting moment of glory.

But don’t worry if you haven’t had a chance to see Stinky for yourself. As the museum tweeted this morning:

@TheHuntington IT’S NOT OVER! After a spectacular bloom yesterday, Stinky is still posing for pics! See Stinky in full bloom at http://huntington.org

So pack your digital camera and your smelling salts and get to the Huntington before the plant shuts down for good. You may not get a chance to see it in its current state for a long time: The last stinky bloom at the museum was seven years ago.

-- David Ng